Create a Klimt-Inspired Self Portrait

Austrian painter Gustav Klimt was famous for his decorative paintings filled with brightly colored patterns. Teach your child about this famous artist and his unique style by creating a patterned Klimt-inspired painting...with her own face as the subject! This project is a great way to encourage your child's creativity, while sparking an interest in art history.

What You Need:

• Examples of Gustav Klimt's art from books checked out from the library or downloaded from the Internet
• 8.5" x 11" or larger sheet of black paper
• Oil pastels
• Color photograph of your child that shows her face and bare arms
• Scissors
• Glue stick

What You Do:

1. Help your child find inspiration for her self portrait by looking at examples of Gustav Klimt's work. Talk about how Klimt used repeating patterns and motifs to fill an entire painting.
2. Have her cut out her head from the photo, then cut out her arms.
3. Help her place the cut-out images onto the black paper and adjust them until they appear the correct distance apart.
4. Have her glue the pictures in place on the black paper. If you're using glossy photos, have her put a piece of tissue or toilet paper over the photo while she presses down to reduce fingerprints.
5. Time to paint! Have her choose her oil pastel color palette, encouraging her to focus on light, vibrant colors such as light blues, light greens, light violet, yellow, red, and orange. Lighter colors will look brighter against the dark background.
6. Now invite her to begin drawing patterns around her face and arms using the oil pastels she chose. As she draws, remind her to avoid using outlines or lines to separate objects from one another. Encourage her to use different patterns for each object or shape instead. For example: If she made a shirt of blue triangles and wants to create pants, have her use another shape and color, such as yellow squares.

Did You Know?

Born in 1862, Gustav Klimt founded the Art Nouveau movement in Austria. During his education, he studied architectural painting. Many of his paintings feature women wrapped in lavish clothing made of multiple patterns resembling mosaics. His work was heavily influenced and inspired by Egyptian, Minoan, Classical Greek, and Byzantine art.